Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1887-12-01
taken the dollars from the pockets Of

taken the dollars from the pockets OF
many an unsuspecting man who treats
himself to the toothsome bird. Joe is
sparrow METER and he is the only
one in the city who follows it as a
money-making business His hunting
grounds are not in the public squares
nor wooded places near the city. He
hunts his game chiefly on the side
walls of churches. dwelling-houses and
other places where ivy vines climb and
cling.
The sparrow METERS method of pro-
cedure is this: He provides himself
with scoop net similar to those used
for grabbing, but much larger He
has put an improvement on the idea,
however. as he has purse string
through the net some distance below
the ring The mouth of the net is
about six feet in diameter. The handle
is long enough to enable him to reach
up on the sides of the Uncovered
buildings.
When Joe reaches spot where he
intends to make haul, he reaches up
his big net until he covers a large
space where the vines are tickest.
While he presses the mouth of the net
close against the wall, his assistant,
with a long pole. stirs up the vines.
The disturbed birds fly and f1utter
blindly into the net. When he thinks
all are in Joe pulls the purse string
and inclose his g anne. Down comes
the net and one after another the
necks of the birds are wrung. He
then ties them up in bundles of twelve,
deposits them in a basket, and goes on
the next vine.
His catch is running little light
yet, but last fall he captured as high
as one hundred and twenty dozen in a
single night The lack of love Phila-
delphians have for the noisy little
nuisances makes it matter of little
difficulty for Joe to obtain permission
to trap the sparrows, and the police.
who know his business, never interfere
with them. Where the walls can be
reached from the street he never asks
any body's permission.
A reporter to whom Joe explained
his manner of capturing the sparrows
asked him what he did with them.
Sell 'em," answered Joe.
ITO whom?''
"Well, if you promise not to tell any
body I'll tell you. I sell 'em to the
restaurants for reed birds. Of course
the people that buys 'em knows what
they are. You see, real reed birds cost
the restaurants from fifty cents dozen
up. I sell the sparrers to them from
twenty-five cents to thirty-fiv cents.
accordin' to the catch. pluck 'em and
fix 'em up after l take 'em homo at
night, and take 'em out early in the
morning. 1 guess if you have eaten
reed bird pot pie, reed1es on toast. or
any other way. you must have eaten
some of my catch. There hain't much
difference in the taste, an durn me if
I wouldn't rather eat sparrer any
how. There's one dish the sparrers
make better than reedies, an they are
generally used for it. You take
potater an split it, an scoop out jest
enough of the potater to make hole
large enough to put the sparrer in.
Before you put the bird in put an oys-
ter inside O him. Shut your potater
up, tic a string around it, and bake it.
If you only had ten dollars, an each
potater filled with sparrer cost dollar.
YOU'D eat your ten dollars out if you
began onct. Oh, yes, make plenty
Of money while the sparrers are get
ting ready to quit the town. But the
short Don't for goodness
sake tell them hash-house people that
told you this thing, or / can't sell
them any more sparrers. philadelphia
NeUs.